There is already talk about the quick legal challenge to passing billions of dollars of tax increases with a 2/3rds vote of the legislature. But chew on this — undoubtedly a referendum will also be filed on these bills if signed into law. From my basic understanding of how that process works, just the start of the qualification process of a referendum halts the implementation of the laws for months… Chew on that! Anyone have the forms I need to submit to start the ball rolling? I think I just need to send in a letter a $200 check…… Read More

Things are hectic here at the home base of the FlashReport — while Democrats in Sacramento were slamming through very constitutionally questionable tax increases — billions of dollars worth — I was out with the family buying a Christmas Tree for the house. Now I am writing an update on the antics of the Capitol before the tree delivery people arrive with our new purchase.

As promised, Senate and Assembly Democrats called session this afternoon, and rammed through bills containing gas, income and a car tax increases. We’ll give a closer look to see which Democrats didn’t vote FOR the taxes (I am sure they "protected" targets since they only needed majority votes under their lame plan) — but I can tell you that not one Republican in the Senate or the Assembly voted for ANY tax increase.

Nevertheless, in both chambers, these tax increases were declared as being passed with a majority vote. In the State Assembly, Republican Chuck DeVore objected to the tax increases being scored as needing only a majority vote. DeVore’s objection was overturned, and he then, in turn moved to overturn the ruling of the chair,… Read More

My youngest of three children just turned ten today! I can’t help thinking about how much life has changed since she was born…gosh, I didn’t even have a cell phone then…archaic! Actually, in the past week, all three of my kids have had their birthdays. (I know, I know – great planning, huh?) I get sentimental around this time each year, because I remember bringing each little bundle of joy home, and how each trip to the delivery room made me a fiercer and fiercer protector of my brood of Buck babies. Each time a new life was placed in my arms for the first time, I became more certain that I would do anything, sacrifice everything, and stop at nothing to make sure my kids were safe from harm. And hence, I found my life’s work…the Go Green Initiative (GGI) (www.gogreeninitiative.org). After sharing my bio when I ran for State Assembly in 2006, many of you already know the story of how the GGI came into being, and if you don’t, here is where you can find out: … Read More

This is not the first time the Democrats have tried to raise taxes on a majority vote, and, guess what, on most occasions in the past they have been successful in their efforts.

Let’s start with Sinclair Paint. In that case, the Supreme Court authorized the passage of an assessment on all paint manufacturers for child health programs on a majority vote. The bill received no Republican votes, yet the tax was passed and collected, challenged in court, and the tax was legitimized by Ron George and the California Supremes. The Court’s reasoning was this: Paint manufacturers put lead in the paint 50 years ago, lead paint affected the health of some children, therefore a fee on paint manufacturers (even if those manufacturers did not make lead paint) for all children’s health programs (even if those health issues are not related to lead-based paint health problems) is a fee, not a tax, because it is assessed to remedy a problem created by the people upon whom the fee is assessed. Using this logic, quite frankly, almost any tax could be justified as a fee.

Another example–the so-called revenue neutrality rule adopted by the Legislative… Read More

With this shameful end-run around Proposition 13 being perpetrated by Capitol Democrats, one of our readers, Andy Nevis, asked if those who aspire to be our next Republican Governor had publicly commented on the situation. In response to that, I sent an e-mail to both the Steve Poizner for Governor campaign and to representatives of Meg Whitman, who has not formally announced her candidacy, but is in the final stages of preparing to do so.

Specifically, sent the following:

Below are the responses that I received, one from Insurance Commissioner Poizner, and the other from a representative of Meg Whitman. Poizner provided a thoughtful and specific statement. Whitman basically declined to give us her thoughts on the matter, her… Read More

With the budget standoff that never really ended this year, we now see the call for stopping spending on infrastructure, because the Assembly and Senate did not come to agreement on tax increase scams [yet]or any other budget fixes. [it was fun to see that the 4 new Dem Assembly members that took over seats previously held by Republicans abstained on the tax increase vote]

When the going gets tough, and taxpayers jobs are in peril, their hours are cut back, their take home pay isn’t stretching as far as it used to in a tough economy…the answer by the Sacramento political class is tax them and their employers even more. If they refuse, [as they have been making very clear to their elected officials, "do not tax me more"] then the response by Democrat leaders is, "fine, we’ll cut what you care about most"

The threats to law enforcement funding, keeping criminals locked up and now in today’s news, cutting the $ allocated to infrastructure that voters demand is the latest slap at them in this hostage situation to extract more car tax or sales tax dollars, [or even taxing… Read More

There isn’t much point in my expending a lot of time this morning chastising Senate and Assembly Democrats for their plans, this morning, to try to stick Californians with billions of dollars in new taxes, using some scheme where they brazenly attempt to navigate around the State Constitution’s requirement for a 2/3 vote to raise taxes. Through sleight of hand and bizarre terminology, Democrats are planning to hike the state’s income, gas, and car taxes (and that’s not all) — and do it with a majority vote (Republican legislators have appropriately and boldly said NO to any tax increases to solve a chronic overspending problem).

It seems to me that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is the one in the spotlight here. The Governor has already called for the legislature to increase taxes by billions of dollars as part of a package that he put forward designed to close the overspending gap not only with spending cuts but also with new taxes. Yeah, we get that. It’s disappointing, but we get it.

But this Proposition 13 end-run that is being quarterbacked by Senate President Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass… Read More

In response to Jennifer Nelson’s post below, the Governor’s office has responded. Below is a brief commentary from David Crane, Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger on Jobs and the Economy…